NEW YORK CITY — Seven goals. One disallowed goal. Two fights. One goalie getting run over. One goal off the glass. Two classic calls from referee Wes McCauley on the mic.
And that was just the second period.
The Utah Hockey Club beat the New York Rangers 6-5 in overtime on Saturday, thanks to an impossible backhand shot by team captain Clayton Keller. It was the home opener at Madison Square Garden, and it did not disappoint.
It was a wild game, particularly the second period. I’ve watched a lot of hockey and have never seen a better period of play.
- Let’s start with the goals. Seven in a game is a healthy number, and we saw that in one period — plus a disallowed goal thanks to everyone’s favorite (or least favorite) tough guy Matt Rempe being in Connor Ingram’s crease. “Remps doesn’t really get the benefit of the doubt with a lot of things,” Rangers defenseman Adam Fox said after the game.
- The fights both happened at the same time. Jack McBain squared off with Adam Edström while Michael Kesselring simultaneously fought Sam Carrick. Both Utah players lost their fights, which got the Garden bumping. McBain and Edström both got game misconducts for being the third and fourth guys to get involved in a fight.
- The goal off the glass was a weird one. Ingram left his net to intercept a rim-around by K’Andre Miller, but it hit a stanchion (the metal pieces that hold the glass panels in place) and bounced into the net.
- And, of course, we can’t forget the most entertaining referee in sports. Ahead of the opening faceoff, McCauley pointed skyward to Sam Rosen, who is beginning his final season as the play-by-play voice of the Rangers — a job he’s held for 47 years. Then, while announcing the four fighting majors, he gave it some showmanship. McCauley did this a number of years ago and he brought it back for fight night at MSG.
“Miscues happened for both teams,” Fox said. “Power plays and 5-on-3s, they kind of get the game a little wonky. It kind of turned into a back and forth, a little bit of a track meet. They’re happy to play into that.”
So which artist was Utah HC playing in the locker room after the win? Shaboozey, of course. Center Barrett Hayton says the country star, who performed before Tuesday’s home-opener, is the team’s good luck charm.
Utah HC is now 3-0-0 to start the season.
“It’s a good step in the right direction,” Keller said after the game. “This is a long season and (we’re) only three games in, so we’ve got a lot of work to do.”
Utah Hockey for dummies
You don’t have to know much about hockey to know this young core is exciting.
Dylan Guenther, who leads the NHL in goals, added another. Hayton also has goals in all three games, tying his career-best goal streak. Keller had two goals, including the overtime winner.
I could shout out a number of other young guys for their offensive play, but let’s not forget their defense.
Logan Cooley received audible applause from Sean Durzi for sacrificing his body to block a shot while killing a penalty. Durzi himself made a few excellent stick lifts to prevent opponents from taking opportune shots. Mikhail Sergachev had some robotically perfect pokes to break up plays.
And of course, head coach André Tourigny is a big fan of Guenther’s game.
“One thing that Dylan has is he’s good in every facet of the game,” Tourigny said. “He’s good at defending, he has a really good stick, he sees the ice well offensively and defensively. He takes a lot of pride in that.”
Utah Hockey for casual fans
While the new fans probably think this team is going to go 82-0-0 this year, you casual fans probably understand that nothing lasts forever. There are still 79 games to go. Guenther is not going to score in every game. The team will have breakdowns and losing skids.
That being said, Tourigny is glad to have the early success.
“One thing I know: Nobody can take those three (wins) away from us,” Tourigny said.
All of Utah HC’s games so far have been home openers in Salt Lake City, one on Long Island and one in Manhattan. Going forward, crowds aren’t likely to be as excited throughout the game.
Utah Hockey for nerds
I intended to write about this well before the goal went in off the glass, so don’t take it as recency bias — Ingram needs to be more sure when he goes behind the net to trap rim-arounds.
It was almost his downfall in Thursday’s game against the New York Islanders, and it nearly got him again early in the first period of Saturday’s game against the Rangers. The goal off the glass was a fluke that couldn’t have been stopped.
It seems like Ingram second-guesses himself when he goes to trap those rim-arounds. He needs to either be confident or stay in the net. That’s going to start showing up in opponents’ scouting reports.
Ingram has played all three games for Utah HC this season, so it could be time for Karel Vejmelka to take a turn. It’s likely that he gets the net on either Monday or Wednesday.
What’s next?
Utah HC makes the long trek across the bridge to Newark as they take on the New Jersey Devils on Monday. The Devils sit in second place in the league with a record of 3-1-0. They’re looking to bounce back after injuries and insufficient goaltending kept them out of the playoffs last season.
They’re a young, skilled team with a lot of star power. Most analysts are predicting New Jersey will make a healthy playoff run in the spring.
The game starts at 11 a.m. MDT.
Utah HC concludes its road trip on the opposite coast, visiting the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday.
The Ducks are also a young team, though they’re not as far into their rebuild as Utah is. It starts at 8 p.m. MDT. Both games will be available on both Utah HC+ and Utah 16.